This year I will do probably one of the toughest things in my life: cycling 450km from Vietnam to Cambodia. I am both excited and terrified; 450km is a lot of ground to cover, and I’ll be cycling for about 8 hours every day over 4-5 days. I have not owned a bicycle since I was a kid, and the last time I cycled was in Downtown Dubai for like an hour (which barely counts, with all the starting and stopping). I’m doing this a few reasons (in no particular order):

It will force me to commit to my fitness habits and push myself further, because this will be a physically challenging journey.

It’s for a good cause, and especially because it’s for kids. It kills me to see them suffer, because they’re collateral in all the conflicts waged by grown ups. I was lucky to have a great childhood with many awesome memories, so this is my way of giving back.

I get to visit that part of Asia without my parents freaking out (I’m still a little girl in their eyes *sigh*). I’ll be traveling with 28 other colleagues and the challenge is organised by Gulf for Good, who have done trips like this a bunch of times; that’s as safe as it gets!

The challenge is taking place at the end of October over 6 days, but I need to raise the money by mid-September.

All donations go straight to the charities and are not part of funding this trip (my company is covering that part, and I’ll be buying my equipment for the challenge).

As of writing this post, I have reached 14% of my fundraising goal (thank you to all my early supporters; it means so much!). To make it a little more fun and interesting for everyone, I’m launching an initiative called Postcards & Bicycles.

What is Postcards & Bicycles all about?

For every donation of 200dhs (US$55/ A$71/ £36.50/ €50) or more, you will receive a custom, personalised postcard from me while I’m cycling in Vietnam/Cambodia!

The postcard is my way of saying thank you for your support and generosity.

The idea was inspired by a documentary- On The Bride’s Side- that was crowdfunding to complete production last year. I received my postcard (and digital download of the film- a must-watch by the way!) from them a couple of months ago and it was awesome to get something in the mail that was not a bill or bank statement!

How this works

Once you’ve made a donation on this link https://www.justgiving.com/nagham/ (please make sure you enter an email address when you donate), I will add you to the list! You will then get an email from me asking for your mailing address so I can send you the postcard in November when I’m on the cycling challenge.

If you’ve already made a donation of that amount or more, you’re already on the list and will soon receive an email from me on next steps.